1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connector, and more particularly to a press-pinching connector structure which requires a reduced occupation space for connecting numerous conductors and a method of making such a cable connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 17, a press-pinching cable connector 20 comprises an insulating body 21 of synthetic resin, contact pieces 22 and 23, and a metal shell 20a. Specifically the insulating body 21 has a flat male projection 21a extending forward on its mating side, and the contact stems 22a and 23a of the contact pieces 22 and 23 (for example, 34 pins.times.2) are parallel-arranged at regular intervals on the opposite surfaces of the flat male projection 21a of the insulating body 21, and the conductor-pinching bifurcate tails 22b and 23b are laid on the rear end of the insulating body 21. The metal shell 20a encloses the flat male projection 21a to define a space for accommodating the mating end of an associated receptacle (not shown).
As seen from the drawing, the conductor-pinching bifurcate tails 22b and 23b of the contact pieces 22 and 23 are bent at right angle with respect to the straight stems 22a and 23a of the contact pieces 22 and 23, and the pinching bifurcate tails 22b and 23b are arranged outward in opposite directions. The conductors of a cable can be connected to the contact pieces 22 and 23 by pushing and holding each conductor end in the bifurcate tails 22b or 23b of each contact piece 22 or 23 with associated press plates 24 and 25.
The contact pieces 22 and 23 are arranged with their pinching bifurcate tails 22b and 23b directed outward in opposite directions. The fixing of the conductors of a cable on the opposite sides of the rear end of the insulating body 12 will increase the thickness of the cable connector, and the applying of the cover plates "b" to the opposite sides of the conductor-pinching area will add the thickness of the cover plate to the cable connector.
Referring to FIG. 19, two plug connectors 26 and 27 are laid on each other, and the so combined plug connectors 26 and 27 are mated with the receptacle connectors 28 and 29 both fixed to the casing of a printed circuit board. As seen from FIG. 20, the plug connectors 26 and 27 must adjoin each other with their alignment center axes "d" and "d" separated a relatively long distance "L" lest the plug connectors 26 and 27 should interfere with each other, and accordingly the adjoining receptacle connectors 28 and 29 must be separated from each other.
The increased thickness of the cable connector is attributable to: the contact pieces 22 and 23 have conductor-pinching bifurcate tails 22b and 23b directed outward in opposite directions. Additionally the cover plates are applied to the opposite sides of the conductor-pinching area of the cable connector. Disadvantageously the so increased thickness of the cable connector reduces the degree of freedom with which personal computers or electric or electronic apparatuses using function-expanding PC cards can be designed in reducing in size.